The Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd. (ECG), Accra West Region, has recovered about GH¢675,313.00 from 94 customers who were found to have engaged in various forms of illegal connections.

Some illegalities the customers engaged in included meter bypasses, meter tampering, unauthorized service connections and direct connections.

The customers were identified during ECG’s one-week nationwide revenue mobilization exercise from 26th May to 2nd June.

According to the Company, the exercise is designed to retrieve all debts owed it, and to monitor the health of its meter installations in customer facilities.

The Accra west region retrieved 535,822KWh of electricity translating to about GH¢675,313.00.

The ECG Accra West General Manager, Ing Emmanuel Akinie praised the vigilance of the field team in uncovering the illegalities. He noted that the illegalities identified were sophisticated, which shows the determination of some customers to deny the company of revenue from the electricity they use. “We have disconnected power to these customers, surcharged them for the electricity they used and a penalty fee for engaging in the illegalities and they will be prosecuted” Ing. Akinie added.

ECG has revealed that it is investing heavily in technology to help identify customers who engage in illegalities. “We have introduced some smart meter solutions on pilot basis, which give us real time updates of what is happening on a customer premises. It signals our office once the meter-case is opened, bypassed or tampered with” he said. Ing. Akinie signaled plans to roll out more of such smart meters to aid in the fight against illegalities.

The Accra West region has eight operational districts. These are Ablekuma, Achimota, Amasaman, Bortianor, Dansoman, Kaneshie, Korlebu and Nsawam.